In 2013, while recovering from Lyme disease, I discovered the profound effects of high-dose vitamin C. After three years of unsuccessful treatments, I spent three months in Bali receiving intravenous vitamin C (50g twice a week) along with ozone therapy. The results were life-changing — my symptoms improved by 90%.
Still determined to fully recover, I searched for ways to continue with high doses after returning to Australia. In the waiting room of the Bali Ozone Clinic, another patient shared a secret: liposomal vitamin C — a highly absorbable form that can be taken orally in large amounts. They even gave me a recipe. Back home, with the help of lipo C, ozone and ozonide, I made a complete recovery within six months.
(If you are interested in hearing exactly what I did to recover from Lyme disease I wrote a blog about it https://mygurulymedisease.blogspot.com/2013/09/meeting-guru-i-was-diagnosed-with-lyme.html )
Since then, whenever I feel an infection coming on, I know exactly what to do.
Recently, I felt the beginnings of a head cold — aching body, mucous, all the usual signs. To stop it in its tracks, I took 4 tablespoons of liposomal vitamin C every 90 minutes (about 57g total in six hours), plus ozonide drops. Normally, even 10g of vitamin C can cause bowel upset when I’m healthy, but this time there was no digestive reaction at all.
This phenomenon was first described by vitamin C pioneer Dr Robert Cathcart, who coined the term bowel tolerance. In his 1981 paper “Vitamin C, Titrating to Bowel Tolerance…”, Cathcart observed that while a healthy person might only tolerate 5–15g of vitamin C before loose stools, someone fighting a cold or flu could tolerate 100–200g before reaching bowel tolerance【Cathcart, 1981†vitamincfoundation.org】.
By evening my symptoms were 70% reduced. By the next day, I barely noticed them at all.
Antioxidant vs Pro-oxidant: The Dual Nature of Vitamin C
Most people know vitamin C as a powerful antioxidant — it helps neutralise free radicals and reduce oxidative stress【Nutrients, 2020†mdpi.com】.
But in mega-doses, vitamin C behaves differently. At high concentrations, vitamin C can act as a pro-oxidant, generating small amounts of hydrogen peroxide in tissues【Riordan Clinic, 2005†riordanclinic.org】.
Here’s the key: healthy cells have protective enzymes (like catalase and glutathione peroxidase) that quickly neutralize hydrogen peroxide, but bacteria, viruses, and damaged cells do not. The pro-oxidant activity of vitamin C helps the immune system selectively weaken or destroy pathogens and unhealthy cells, while leaving healthy tissue unharmed【Levine et al., 2011; JeCCR, 2021†jeccr.biomedcentral.com】.
This dual role explains why massive doses can be therapeutic in ways smaller doses are not: antioxidant protection at everyday levels, immune-boosting pro-oxidant action at therapeutic levels.
⚠️ Important Note: This article is based on my personal experience. It is not medical advice, and I am not recommending that anyone self-administer high doses of vitamin C without professional guidance. The Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) in Australia recommends just 1g of vitamin C per day for adults. If you are considering high-dose vitamin C, please do so under the supervision of a qualified health professional.
References (for further reading)
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Cathcart RF. (1981). Vitamin C, Titrating to Bowel Tolerance, Anascorbemia, and Acute Induced Scurvy. Orthomolecular Medicine, 10(2). Vitamin C Foundation Archive
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Poljsak B, et al. (2020). Two Faces of Vitamin C — Antioxidative and Pro-Oxidative Agent. Nutrients, 12(5):1501. MDPI
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Riordan Clinic (2005). Does Vitamin C Act as an Antioxidant or Pro-Oxidant? Riordan Clinic
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JeCCR (2021). High-Dose Intravenous Vitamin C, a promising multi-targeting agent… Journal of Experimental & Clinical Cancer Research, 40:343. BioMed Central
